Media took a tour of the new Chrysler SHAP Paint Shop that is still in construction Tuesday, July16. The robotics are currently being tested before nearly a thousand vehicles pass through the SHAP paint shop a day. (Tanya Moutzalias | MLive.com)

STERLING HEIGHTS, MI- As far as John Powell is concerned, Chrysler Group LLC’s Sterling Heights Assembly Plant is a facility “with nine lives.”

Powell, Chrysler senior manager of paint facilities, planning and launch, said the facility, which was targeted for closure during the Auburn Hills-based automaker's government-backed bankruptcy in 2009, just won't die.

In fact, the facility is growing, and when a new 425,000 square-foot paint shop goes online early next year, it will connect to the assembly plant and become the most high-tech shop in Chrysler's portfolio.

"This paint shop is flexible for any product (expect Ram trucks)," Powell told media Tuesday during a tour of the three-level facility, which can seal, coat, powder and paint an entire vehicle using advanced robotic systems in about eight hours. "That's a good shot in the arm for Sterling Heights also, because of the fact we can schedule any kind of vehicle in this plant to keep it running.

“From a long-term perspective, this is a great endeavor for the city of Sterling Heights.”

The Sterling Heights Assembly Plant complex employs about 2,450 hourly and 127 salaried workers on two shifts."There's a lot of new innovative technology that we have here that we don't have anywhere else," he said. "This is definitely going to be our future standard."

Chrysler said about 300 people -- the same amount that staff the current paint shop -- will staff the new facility. Most of the existing employees will move over, according to the company.

Chrysler did not have an exact amount the new facility is expected to save the company annually in recycling, energy and other costs.

According to Jim Hanley, conveyor project manager, a new friction drive system conveyor, which is one of the final steps in the paint shop for a vehicle, is expected to save Chrysler $63,583 annually in energy costs.

The new paint shop, which started being constructed in May 2011, also features special chambers, or windows, that allow workers to perform maintenance on one part of the line without stopping the entire line.

“They share responsibilities,” said Heather Montgomery, program management and paint facilities manager. “The minute you send that robot to the maintenance window, the other robots know that they need to pick up … and they basically play a continuous program that covers that robot’s tasks.”

In October 2010, the original $850 million investment was for the new paint shop and retooling at two area stamping plants in Sterling Heights and Warren. The $850 million was part of a $1 billion announced investment that also included a $150 million investment at its facility in Dundee.

Chrysler is not breaking out the amount of investment at each facility for the $850 million.

If Chrysler's Sterling Heights Assembly Plant does indeed have "nine lives," it should be in for a long future.